Leading US banks will be subject to a dual crackdown on multimillion dollar pay packets, as the Federal Reserve set out broad plans to scrutinise remuneration and the Obama administration's so-called "pay tsar" confirmed that salaries will be slashed at institutions receiving government aid.

In a coordinated response to public fury over Wall Street's swift return to large bonuses, the Fed announced that 28 of America's largest, most complex financial institutions will be required to submit their pay policies to a regulatory review – whether or not they have received bail-out money from taxpayers.

Meanwhile, the Treasury's special master for compensation, Kenneth Feinberg, confirmed that struggling firms still dependent on the public pocket will have to limit salaries to a maximum of $500,000 (£300,000) and that average total pay packages among top employees will drop by 50%.

"I am extremely sensitive to public outrage about this," said Feinberg, nicknamed the pay tsar, whose ruling, widely leaked earlier in the week, was considerably tougher than initially expected at struggling firms such as Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG and General Motors.

The dual effort follows irritation in Washington at Wall Street's reluctance to modify payouts in the fall-out from the global financial crisis. A decision by AIG to pay out bonuses of $178m to executives in its doomed financial products arm sparked particular anger this year, as did a bonus of nearly $100m due to a star Citigroup trader, Andrew Hall.

Speaking at the signing of a veterans' healthcare bill in Washington, Barack Obama said there was a delicate balance to be struck in restraining excessive pay. "This is America. We don't disparage wealth; we don't begrudge anybody for doing well," said Obama. "We believe in success. But it does offend our values when executives of big financial firms – firms that are struggling – pay themselves huge bonuses, even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat."

Using its supervisory powers, the Fed will scrutinise large banks' policies and will veto measures that could encourage staff to take "imprudent risks". Smaller regional and community banks will not have to submit their plans directly but their pay arrangements will be regularly reviewed as part of the Fed's monitoring.

The measures fall short of a "cap" on bonuses demanded by certain European governments, including the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh last month. But they are likely to please Democrats clamouring for action on Capitol Hill.

"I don't think there will be any charity cases on Wall Street," Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the house financial services committee, told Bloomberg News. "This is a very good thing."